Hi Sweet Friends! Happy Monday to you! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!
It is completely grey and overcast here in my neck of the woods, so rather a gloomy start to the week for us. But I am not going to let those grey skies get me down. Because I have just returned from a lovely weekend away at the beach with the girls. And there’s nothing like girlfriend time, and beach time, to soothe all ills and lift the spirits. I am a very happy (and slightly sunburned) lucky girl this morning….. ready to tackle any gloom ahead. Hope you all made some great summertime memories this weekend, too.

Today I wanted to switch gears from papercrafts to a post dedicated to my sweet mom, who loves to see my house decorated for the different seasons and holidays, but rarely gets the chance to see it in person. So welcome, all! I hope you enjoy! Here’s a peek at my summertime decor.

My passion for things old and timeworn definitely comes from my mom and dad, who started me out antiquing when I was still in high school. I would scour the thrift shops for vintage clothes and jewelry, and still to this day proudly display some of the dishes and treasures I managed to find way back then. If it’s rusty or chippy, there’s a good chance you’ll find it here. I am, after all, a funky junk girl at heart.

I usually go with a patriotic red, white, and blue Americana theme for the summer months. But this time I’m changing things up a tad to go with more of a nautical beach cottage look in spots, in keeping with my ocean-themed summer mini-release in my shop this year. You may remember seeing my beachy entryway decor from an earlier post this summer (click HERE if you missed that post.) So my summer sideboard this year is done up to match in soothing ocean blues.

While the rest of the house is in keeping with my traditional red, white, and blue.

Happy Monday, sweet friends! Hope you all have had a wonderful week since I last checked in, and that those of you in the states had a fabulous and fun-filled 4th of July holiday!

It’s been a very quiet, but productive week, here at my house. I think I’m still trying to adjust to the quiet of North Carolina living after my lovely three week visit with family out in California. But fortunately, there’s been lots to do in my craft studio. And the time, as always, just seems to slip by. Next week, the mid-year Mixed Media Event (formerly produced by Sierra Pacific Crafts (SPC) will take place in Salt Lake City. And that has kept me a busy, busy little bee, creating projects for the show using Photo Play Paper’s newest upcoming collections. It’s been Christmas in July in my studio…. and Halloween, too. Lots of favorites that I look forward to sharing with you soon.

Now that trade show projects are slowing down, I had a chance to re-connect with my other love, fabric, this weekend…. and have started on a batch of sweet, shabby pumpkin folk for my fall shop openings. I’m super excited that the Rusty Bucket has requested some of my prims for their fall open house again this year. Must get to work, because it will be here before we know it. Inside my little world, it’s autumn already. But all that must wait. For right now it’s time to celebrate summer, and I have lots of fun to share with you. In between paper and fabric crafts, I’ve managed to break out my Americana summer decor, which I’ll share next time. And today, I have a summer-inspired card to share made with Photo Play’s adorable Summer Bucket List collection.

This little cutie captures some of my favorite summertime memories from when my kids were little. Playing games, camping under the stars, and toasting some marshmallows over an open fire, mixed with bright and happy colors and a touch of rustic woodgrain, that I adore.

Hope you’re making lots of fun summer memories this season, too!
Thanks so much for stopping by! See you all soon!

Hi Friends! Happy Friday!
Waving a very happy hello to all of you from the heart of North Carolina!
We are finally back home from our fabulous three week vacation in California.

Even though our vacation is over, summer is still in full swing these days. We experienced some record-breaking heat out in California, and it’s sure none cooler back here in North Carolina. Nothing but blue skies and soaring temperatures for days to come. Perfect time to share a little summer fun card that I made for Photo Play Paper using their adorable Summer Bucket List line.

Snacks are always good year round, but there’s something about popcorn that really does make me think of summer. Perhaps it’s the bright sunny colors and circus-tent stripes that put me in mind. As you can see, I went heavy on the layers here. The popcorn accents are a mix of stickers and a cut-apart journaling card for the main panel. I coated the top kernels with glossy accents and placed them onto the card with foam adhesive for a bit of 3D popping action.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer so far! Any big vacation plans in the works?

Last week I had the great pleasure of guesting over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, sharing a pair of outdoorsy camp cards featuring Photo Play Paper’s new summer collections. I shared the first card in my last post, and today I am excited to share number two.

Once again, I combined papers from both the Campfire and the Lakeside collections for my background, and then made a fun paper-pieced scene for that adorable bear. Seriously cannot resist me a cute little critter.

I pulled in more of the stamp images this time to add a swag element to the top of the frame, and for the sentiment, too. Colored the images with Zig markers, and die cut them with the matching set of dies.

These fun Photo Play Paper lines are definitely making me ready for some summer adventures. We’re hoping to head north to the mountains this weekend, so perhaps a real bear, or two, will be on the agenda! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, too. And thanks so much for stopping by!

Hi Friends! Waving a giant hello to you all from the sunny state of California!

This past week I had the great pleasure of sharing a guest post over on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, and today I am happy to share one of my card projects here with you, too. Since it’s now June, and I am in vacation mode, it seemed the perfect time to play with Photo Play Paper’s new outdoorsy summer collections, Lakeside and Campfire.

I absolutely adore these new nature-inspired collections, and love how beautifully they work together. I am a sucker for cute little critters, so couldn’t resist using this adorable bear stamp for both of the cards I made, and mixing a bit of paper from both collections to complete my scenes.

I stamped the bear onto watercolor paper and colored the image with Zig Clean Color markers before die cutting with the coordinating die shape. Love how the bear is just peeking in from the corner of the frame.

I’ve got more details and a complete supply list, as well as a second camp card to share, up on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog, if you’d like to see more. And be sure to enter the prize giveaway HERE for a chance to win these awesome Photo Play Paper stamps, dies, and collection kits.

I’m off to a bit of a late start to my week, with a Tuesday post instead of my usual Monday. It’s been busy here, with lots of things on my to-do list….. but busy in a very good way. Tomorrow we’re heading out on vacation. I’m going home, friends! Home to visit my family. 🙂

It’s a very rare occurrence for me, but this year I get to spend Father’s Day with my dad. And of course a special occasion like that calls for a handmade card. So I have pulled out some of my favorite inky Ranger and Tim Holtz goodies to create this retro, masculine Father’s Day card for him, which I’m very excited to be sharing this week on the Ranger Ink blog.

My parents live near San Francisco, so it seems only fitting to pull out this amazing Tim Holtz Cityscape die for his Father’s Day card this year. I love all the individual pieces that come in this collection, but for this card, I used one of the border dies to create a quick and easy city scene, layered onto a Stitched Rectangles die cut frame.

I pulled out some of the darker range of Distress inks to watercolor the buildings, and then added highlights to the vellum windows with a yellow Distress marker. The sky was water-colored, too, with a golden glow for a sunny background.

I added some stamps and splatters, and a grungy finish with opaque Texture Paste. Papers from the Memoranda paper stash and a die cut sentiment banner.

I’ve got the complete step-by-step tutorial up on the Ranger Ink blog, if you’d like to learn more!

P.S.~ Today is the last chance to snatch up the few remaining goodies in myAudOnes Prims shop before I close for vacation. There’s still a couple of items from my nautical summer mini-release, and even a few remaining spring prims, as well. Last chance!

Have a wonderful day, everyone! I’m heading out tomorrow, but hope to visit and post while I’m away. So, my friends, I will see you all soon!